Green investment bank: will the coalition’s scheme live up to its name?

Green investment bank: will the coalition’s scheme live up to its name?

28 January 2011

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has called for the Tory-led coalition to commit to giving its proposed green investment bank powers to lend and borrow, and to confirm that it will “make a significant impact on the backlog of important pro-environment projects” rather than use public money to fund nuclear power stations.

Writing on her blog for the Guardian’s environment pages, Caroline expressed concerns that the ‘bank’ will end up being a finite pot of money, with little long-term effect. She also highlights the need to find the right kind of board for the bank to avoid mismanagement:

“We want a board of people who understand finance, but also industry, society and the environment. Who are on the board to ensure it invests in the right ways: not to maximise profits, but to meet its environmental and social potential and responsibilities and so generate a greater return for our country than profits alone can ever do.

“Get that right, and the bank could be one that all of us can be proud of – no matter what it's called.”